Railway-rail coupling.



A. H. STAUDT.

RAILWAY RAIL COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.8,1911.

1,009,936. Patented Nov. 28, 1911.

Atto rn eys UNITED STATES PAETENT OFFICE.

AMOS H. STAUIDT, OF HAINTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY-RAIL COUPLING.

To .all whom it may concern:

Be it'known that 1, Aims H. STAUDT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hamton, in the county of Dauphin and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Railway-Rail Coupling, of which the following is a specification.

This-invention relates to railway rail couplings.

The object of the invention is, in a noveland practical manner, to secure together the abutting ends of railway rails, and without the employment of bolts or fish-plates forthe purpose, the connection being such that without removing the rail spikes, it will be impossible for the meeting ends of the rails to become deflected, so that accidents result- ,lng ,from non-alining rails will be prevented.

A. further object is to construct the coupling in such manner that its disconnection may readily be accomplished, merely by unspiking and raising the two opposed ends in unison, the arrangement of the parts of the '2'- coupling that contact with the rail treads and bases being such that any tendency to binding is positively precluded.

With the above and other objects in view, as will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists, generally stated, in arailway rail-coupling embodying a bridge block provided with webengaging plates, the upper edges of which are curved on arcs whose centers lie within the terminals of the plates. In practice, the

channels defining the plates will be of a depth equal to rabbets formed in the opposed ends of the two rails to receive the web connecting the plates, so that in the act ends of the rails in such manner as to pre-V clude the possibility of the rail ends becoming non alined, and further, to accomplish this result, without the employment of bolts, such as are ordinarily used in connection Specification of Letters Patent. Patented NOV. 28, 1911 Application filed August 8, 1911.

Serial N 0. 642,945.

with fish-plates, whereby the weakening of the rails at their ends, caused by the proand the removal of the coupling, except by unspiking the rails, is rendered impossible, thus presenting a certain foil to the attempts of train Wreckers.

The invention consists further in the various novel details of construction of a railway rail coupling, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, andin which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts: Figure his a View in side elevation of two railway rails, showing the same connected with the coupling constituting the subject matter of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a .view similar to Fig. 1, but with the-coupling in section. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and looking in the' direction of the arrow thereon. Fig. 4 is a perspective detail view of the bridge block which constitutes the coupling. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view, partly in elevation and partly in plan, showing the relation bet-ween the rabbets and cheek plates-of the rail and of Fig. 6 is a view in side the bridge block. elevation, showing the manner in which the bridge block is detached from the rails.

Referring to the drawings, R designates sections of two railway rails, of the usual or any preferred construction, and as they inno way vary from the standard rail 1n use,-

detailed description thereof is deemed unnecessary further than to state that T designates the tread, W the web, and B the base.

The gist of the present invention resides in the novel coupling shown in detail in Fig. 4. This coupling constitutes a bridge block whereof the web 1 is designed to fit within rabbets or mortises M in the abutting ends of the rails, and the cheek plates 2 to embrace each side of the webs of the rails. The lower edges 3 of the cheek plates and of the web are oppositely beveled in order to correspond to the contour of the upper faces of the bases, while the upper edges 4 of the cheek plates are curved on arcs struck within the terminals of the plates, thus to secure shortcurve. The check plates from the walls 5 of the web outward are of a length corresponding approximately to the depth of the rabbets M, so that to disconvision of the fish-plate bolt holes is obviated,

nect the coupling from the rails, it will only be necessary to pry the latter to the position shown in Fig. 6, and as soon as the projecting ends E of the rail treads aline or slightly pass the walls 5, the curved portions will pass from engagement with the webs, the lower edges of the cheek plates riding as fulcrums upon the opposed ends of the rail bases F, thus to permit ready removal of the coupling upon the rails being elevated to a somewhat higher plane.

WVhen the coupling is to be positioned, the reverse of the above described operation is observed, and as soon as the rails assume a horizontal position, or that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the rails are spiked in the usual manner to the sleepers, and this will result in the positive securing of the coupling in osition.

WVhile, as stated, it will not be necessary to employ spikes to secure the coupling to the sleepers, yet, if preferred, and as an extra precaution, spikes may be employed in the same manner as with the rails.

It will be seen from the foregoing description, that although the improvements of the present invention are simple in character, they will be found thoroughly efficient for the purpose designed, and will cooperate in the presentation of a highly durable and practical form of coupling.

What is claimed is:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a railway rail coupling embodying a bridge-block having a web the upper face of which is fiat, and web-engaging plates the upper edges of which are curved outward and downward from the end walls of the web and on arcs whose centers lie within the terminals of the plates. s

2. The combination with two rails, the opposed faces of which are rabbeted, of a coupling embodying a bridge-block to engage the rabbets and pairs of cheek-plates tov receive the webs of the rails, the upper edges of the cheeloplates being curved downward from the walls of the bridge-block to their I ends and on such arcs that when the rails are raised to a height to bring the opposed ends of the rail-treads in line with the block walls, the cheek-plates will pass out of engagement with the treads and bases of the rails and thus permit ready detachment of.

the coupling.

In testimony as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

AMOS H. STAUDT.

lVitnesses:

DAVID G. BOWMAN, S. R. SATTERTHWAITE.

that. I claim the foregoing 

